


serendipity

by zyximb



Series: ❄️sebaek winter collection 2019❄️ [1]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Cute, Fluff, Humor, IDK what this is but i thought it was cute LOL, M/M, Romance, Silly, Winter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-03
Updated: 2019-12-03
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:08:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21655018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zyximb/pseuds/zyximb
Summary: 'When Sehun's holiday plans fall through, he bitterly marches back to the store to return his artificial tree. Baekhyun is working the returns counter and they end up going out for a late bite to eat after Baekhyun's shift ends.'
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Oh Sehun
Series: ❄️sebaek winter collection 2019❄️ [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1563043
Comments: 7
Kudos: 45





	serendipity

**Author's Note:**

> based on a prompt sent in by anon on [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/zyximb)
> 
> unbetaed, so please excuse any mistakes.

Sehun’s friends were the worst. Despite the fact the fact that his crappy studio apartment was about as big as a shoebox, they had somehow convinced him to purchase the largest size that the plastic Christmas trees came in. To make matters worse, Jongin had the gall to cancel their Christmas party last minute, so there was really no point in putting up the stupid tree anyway. Not that three grown men sitting around watching Christmas movies, eating takeout, and exchanging gifts they all bought from the nearby convenience store could even be considered a  _ party _ . 

Fortunately for Sehun, he hadn’t even unboxed the damn thing yet when he had received the text that both Jongin and Chanyeol were going to their boyfriends’ homes for the holidays. Curse his friends. Curse couples. Curse everyone. 

Not only was Sehun pathetically single, had been for the past three years after his ex dumped through  _ email _ \- he didn’t even have the decency to do it through text for God's sake- he also couldn’t afford a flight back to his parents’ house.  _ The most wonderful time of the year my ass _ , Sehun mentally scoffed. 

Without Chanyeol’s obnoxiously big pick-up truck, driving the tree back to the store was not an easy task. Sehun’s head nearly touched the ceiling of the car when he sat up straight, it was so small. His parents had gotten it from a used car lot his senior year of high school, a gift for him to take to college. Five years later and he was still driving the dump because all of his money went to his rent and feeding the monsters that were his best friends. 

The line for the returns counter was alarmingly long. Sehun dragged the giant box containing his abandoned plastic tree behind an angry looking mother holding a beat up tox box. Boy, did he feel bad for retail workers this time of the year. The line barely moved an inch after half an hour. Another inch and a half after a full hour. After an hour and a half, Sehun immensely regretted forgetting his earbuds in the car. He could go out and get them really quick, though he would have to risk this whole crowd of angry people accusing him of cutting the line. He decided against it. 

He had gotten to the store around nine; it was now almost eleven and the store closed at eleven thirty. Great. There was still a decent amount of people before him and with the pace that they’re going, he wasn’t even sure if he was going to make it to the actual counter. They had been waiting so long that almost everyone behind him had left, leaving only one more person after him. He was debating whether or not he should just admit defeat and just leaving when he heard someone call out to him. 

“I can help the next person!”

Sehun sighed in sweet, sweet relief as he dragged the heavy box to freedom. The employee at the counter looked surprisingly chipper for someone who had been dealing with angry and unreasonable customers all night. Wide rectangular grin, twinkling crescent eyes, a very tacky green and red elf hat sitting atop his head. 

“What can I help you with, sir?” 

“I wanna return this tree.”

The employee eyed the huge box underneath Sehun’s hand and pouted. Sehun searched his body for a nametag to put a name to the face.  _ Baekhyun _ . “Aw, you’re abandoning it before it even got a chance to fulfill its Christmas duty?” 

Sehun frowned, “Yeah, it’s too big for my apartment.”

“Oh, well are you gonna buy a smaller one then?” Baekhyun asked, making Sehun wonder if this was why the line was taking so long. Was he always this inquisitive with all customers? 

“I-uh don’t know. Probably not.” He only ever really decorated when he had a reason to and now that no one was coming over, there was really no point. 

It was Baekhyun’s turn to frown. “Why not?” 

“ _ Because _ ,” Sehun sighed, beginning to grow frustrated. He just wanted to return the damn tree and put some food into his empty stomach. He hadn’t eaten since lunch. “I don’t have any guests this Christmas and there’s no point in decorating if no one is going to see it.” 

“You don’t have anyone coming over for Christmas? Is it because you don’t have any friends?” 

If Sehun had known he was waiting in line for hours just to get insulted by a stranger, he wouldn’t have come to the store in the first place. “ _ I have friends _ ! They’re just busy this year- Oh my god, why am I even telling you this. I don’t need to explain myself to you,” Sehun grumbled, shaking his head in disbelief. “Can you just please hurry up and return this for me, so I can finally go have dinner?” 

Baekhyun stifled a laugh as he finally started to do his work, further irking an already annoyed Sehun. He handed him the return receipt with that wide grin again. “Have a good rest of your night, sir.” 

“Yeah, whatever. You too,” Sehun muttered begrudgingly. 

As soon as he got into his car, Sehun went on his phone to look for the nearest place he could stop by to grab a late dinner. He knew for a fact his fridge was empty and he wasn’t exactly stoked about eating instant ramen.

Most of the places that were still open were fast food, but there was one diner near that he and Jongin had stopped by once after work. It was open twenty-four seven, god knows why. Sehun could only imagine the amount of drunkards and weirdos coming in at three in the morning. 

The waitress, a very tired looking middle aged woman wearing a yellow uniform dress and a white apron tied around her waist, told him to sit wherever he’d like. Sehun chose a booth in the back corner, as far away from anyone else as he could possibly get. He did not feel like socializing tonight. Not after that very odd encounter with that nosy employee from the store. Baekhyun or whatever his name was. 

There were not many people in the diner besides him. There was a man and his young son sitting by the window. A table of what looks to be a few teenage girls, who were giggling shyly and stealing glances at him. Across from them was an old couple who were sharing a sundae. A sundae in this cold? How strange. 

Sehun slumped back in his seat as he popped his earbuds in and drummed his fingers lazily on the sticky tabletop. Eyes idly looking around the mostly empty diner, he waited for the waitress to come with his order. The clock on the wall read twelve o’clock when the door opened to welcome a newcomer to the warmth of the restaurant.

With narrowed eyes, Sehun took a closer look at the familiar pointy red and green hat bouncing his way. 

“Sorry dear, someone’s at your usual table,” the waitress said to young man.

“Oh, that’s okay. I’ll just sit here,” he grinned. The bell on the tip of his hat jingled lightly as he plopped into the booth in front of Sehun’s, sitting on the side that faced him. 

He didn’t even notice Sehun until he finally looked up from the menu. “Oh! Hello.” 

Sehun looked at him, puzzled.  __ “Please don’t tell me you followed me.” 

Baekhyun pouted, “I frequent this diner, so if anything  _ you’re _ the one following  _ me _ .” 

Sehun opened his mouth to deny the accusation, only to be stopped by the other saying, “But don’t worry, I know you’re not.” 

He put his earbuds back in and stared out the window, too exhausted to even try to partake in conversation. It wasn’t until the waitress came with his food that he realized Baekhyun was still staring at him. He took out one of his earbuds and raised a brow.

Baekhyun took that as a sign to speak. “You didn’t say hello.”

“What?”

“I said hello to you. The nice thing to do when someone greets you is to greet them back. You never said it back.”

Sehun swallowed his pride and sighed in defeat. “Hello.” 

Baekhyun smiled approvingly. Baekhyun was strange. Very strange. 

The waitress brought out a mug of something steaming hot and a plate of waffles with fresh cut strawberries on top, setting it on Baekhyun’s table. He didn’t recall Baekhyun ever actually ordering. 

He worked on his own food, a burger and a large side of fries, occasionally glancing from the window to the young man across from happily eating pancakes at midnight. How could someone be so lively after a night shift? 

“How’s your food?” Baekhyun asked when he noticed him staring.

“Good.” Sehun shoved a couple fries into his mouth. “Why are you eating waffles this late at night?”

“Because they’re good!” His eyes lit up so brightly, Sehun could’ve sworn he had to squint for the shortest second. “I always get them when I work the closing shift. Do not like waffles?” 

Sehun had always been more of a pancakes kind of guy. “They’re okay.” 

The instant look of disappointment on Baekhyun’s face made him slightly regretful about saying that. “How can you not like waffles...no wonder you don’t have friends…”

“ _ Hey _ , I have friends! And I didn’t say I  _ didn’t _ like them, I just don’t like them as much as pancakes.” 

Sehun frowned as he took another bite of his burger. He watched the father and son from the diner get into their car. There was a large pine tree strapped to the hood and the boy seemed to be very excited about bringing it home. When Sehun turned back to look at his food, he found Baekhyun sitting in his booth, right across from him with his plate of pancakes and his mug of hot chocolate. 

Sehun couldn’t even think of what to say, simply stared at him in disbelief. Very strange, indeed. 

“It’s a bit silly for us to be sitting at different tables if we’re going to keep talking, don’t you think?” Baekhyun said upon seeing his reaction.

He supposed he had a point, even if it was a bit odd to invite yourself to sit at a stranger’s table. Sehun didn’t have the intention of continuing their conversation, but it seemed like Baekhyun was not going to let him eat in peace. “I guess so.” 

They finished their meals in silence after that. Not an awkward, suffocating silence that Sehun dreaded when spending time with new people, but a nice, comfortable silence that he didn’t mind. He noticed Baekhyun save the slices of strawberry for the end, only eating them once every bite of the waffle was gone. He chewed on the fruit while smiling to himself, doing a little dance in his seat as he adjusted his elf hat. When he took a closer look, Sehun noticed the other even had some elf ears on. The apples of his cheeks were perfectly rosy and his fluffy brown hair was peeking out from his hat. He really did remind Sehun of an adorable little elf from a movie or something of that sort. 

“Why do you still have that hat on?” 

“Oh,” he said, looking up as if he hadn’t even realized he was wearing it. “I forgot, but I look cute, right?”

The moment their eyes met and Baekhyun’s lips curled into that rectangular smile of his, Sehun felt his face heat up. God what was he, twelve years old? “Yeah, I guess.” 

Baekhyun stared at his face, his head tilted to the side, before giggling cutely. “Your cheeks are red,” 

Sehun shifted uncomfortably. “No they’re not.” 

His heartbeat quickened immensely when the other suddenly leaned over the table to cup his face with small, warm hands. “They’re warm.” 

“They’re not,” he denied again stupidly. “Your hands are warm.” 

When Baekhyun pulled away, he couldn’t help but somewhat wished he didn’t. Maybe he was just touched deprived from being single for so long. 

“Isn’t that cute?” he said, pointing at the old couple sharing the sundae. “They come here really often and they  _ always  _ share a banana split sundae.” 

Sehun had to admit it was a very sweet sight. “Isn’t it a bit cold for ice cream?”

“It’s never too cold for ice cream!” Baekhyun declared. “I kind of want some now, should we share one?” 

There was something about him, his pretty brown eyes perhaps, that made Sehun unable to say no. Every spoonful of the ice cream made him feel colder and colder; he ate it anyway. 

“You know, I don’t have any plans for Christmas either,” Baekhyun said, licking the vanilla ice cream off his lips. He still had a bit on the corner of his mouth. Sehun resisted the urge to lean over and wipe it off for him. “I could be your friend for the day and come over, if you’d like.” 

It actually sounded like a great offer. Sehun wouldn’t mind having him come over, as weird as it seemed. “You don’t even know my name.” 

“Okay, what’s your name?”

If he told Baekhyun his name, it could mean that he was agreeing to spend Christmas with him. Spending Christmas with him could mean a lot of things. Having to spend New Year’s with him. Having to introduce him to Jongin and Chanyeol. Having to prepare himself for a potential heartbreak because with a smile like Baekhyun’s....Sehun was bound to fall hard.

He decided, in a moment of weakness, that he would have to deal with those consequences later. “Sehun, my name is Sehun.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Hello loves! hope you enjoyed this short winter oneshot hehe. was it even cute to you guys tbh like i thought it was cute but i was like is anyone else gonna like this jkashfskjgdf ANYWAYS anon who sent me this prompt i hope you liked it !! i recieved some other winter prompts that i will try to work on this month, but we shall see lmao. HOPE YOU'RE ALL DOING WELLLLLL 
> 
> p.s. isn't elf baekhyunnie so cute :((
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated ♡ 
> 
> [tumblr](http://www.attractive-asshole.tumblr.com) / [aff](http://www.asianfanfics.com/profile/view/864487) / [lj](https://zyximb.livejournal.com/) / [wattpad](https://www.wattpad.com/user/zyximb) / [twitter](https://twitter.com/zyximb) / [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/zyximb)


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